1 in 3 women has been exposed to physical or sexual violence globally
World Health Organization on Tuesday stated, approximately one out of every three women globally has been exposed to physical or sexual violence during her lifetime. During the pandemic, there has been a widespread increase in criminal behavior.
The U.N. agency has requested the governments to avert violence, improve services for victims and tackle economic inequalities that often leave women and girls trapped in abusive relationships.
WHO officials said, boys must be taught in school about the need for mutual respect in relationships and mutual consent in sex.
“Violence against women is endemic in every country and culture, causing harm to millions of women and their families, and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
WHO conducted a study which is called the largest-ever such study, encompassing national data and surveys from 2000-2018 stated, 31% of women aged 15-49, or up to 852 million women, have experienced physical or sexual violence.
“These numbers are very shocking and really are sort of a wake-up call for governments to be doing much more to prevent this violence,” report author Claudia Garcia-Moreno said.
A husband or intimate partner is the most common perpetrator and a disproportionate number of victims are in the poorest countries, it said. True figures are likely far higher due to under-reporting of sexual abuse, a heavily-stigmatized crime.
Countries with the highest prevalence include Kiribati, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan, WHO data show.
